NEW DELHI: As Delhi Police have failed to investigate half of the cases registered in past three years, Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar Verma has ordered a special drive to reduce the pendency.
Investigation into 1,20,561 criminal cases, including heinous crimes such as murder, rape and dacoity, is pending, besides hundreds of cases referred by the VVIPS and Ministry of Home Affairs.
During a recent law and order meeting, Verma found that 66 references made by the Ministry of Home Affairs were pending for over a month. He directed that these references should be cleared at the earliest.
Special commissioner of police SBK Singh, who was also present in the meeting, stated that deputy commissioners of police of all districts should sit on weekends and clear all pending references. “If any reference needs a detailed enquiry into any case, they should send an interim reply and the final report should be sent later,” said Verma.
Maximum number of investigations is pending in South Delhi with 22,885 cases, followed by 18,253 cases in outer Delhi.
The commissioner directed that continuous efforts should be made to reduce pendency and necessary approval for further investigation should be obtained from the officers concerned.
He directed that inspector investigation and assistant commissioner of police (ACP) heading the investigating unit of districts should be involved in disposing of the pending cases.
“ACPs heading the units should review the pending cases at the police stations and send their reports to deputy commissioners of police (DCP) and joint commissioners of police on weekly-basis,” Verma issued a direction.
Singh informed Verma that they have started a drive to review pending cases, and 8,200 cases have been disposed of. Hearing this, Verma directed to follow the suit.
Police have registered around 3.5 lakh cases in past three years and the number is increasing every year. In past five years, the registration of cases has increased by 258.7 percent. A total of 53,353 cases were reported from the city in 2011, and the number increased to 1,91,377 in 2015.
A senior officer said, “The registration of cases has increased but the manpower remains the same. This has led to 50 percent pendency. The issue needs to be addressed wisely and effectively. Cracking whip on investigating officers is not going to work. A single investigating officer has over 200 cases per year and it is humanly impossible for him to solve all of them,” he said.